US’ multinational humanitarian drive in Indo-Pacific returns to PH

ROXAS CITY, Philippines (July 31, 2015) Armed Forces of the Philippines Lt. Col. Alexander Salgado, the Pacific Partnership Joint Task Force Panay commander, gives remarks at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Barangay Talon Health Center as part of Pacific Partnership 2015. (U.S. Air Force file photo by Senior Airman Peter Reft/RELEASED)

MANILA, Philippines — United States’ largest annual humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operation in Indo-Pacific is set to return in San Fernando, La Union.

According to Armed Forces of the Philippines, the event dubbed as “Pacific Partnership,” will be conducted from August 22 to August 31.

Almost 1,500 personnel from Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States will join this year’s mission.

“We welcome our ally and partners as we embark on another opportunity to build strong, stable, and resilient communities,” said Lieutenant Colonel Enrico Gil Ileto, chief of AFP’s Public Affairs Office, in a statement on Monday.

“This exercise underscores our commitment to regional stability, disaster response readiness, and the well-being of every Filipino and our neighbors,” he added.

HADR will focus on three primary trainings – mountain search and rescue, urban search and rescue, and water search and rescue.

Refreshers on basic life support, incident command system, and operations center management will also be conducted.

A training on an earthquake-tsunami response scenario will be held.

Medical and dental civic programs will be done as well.

Engineering projects are also lined up.

In 2022, Puerto Princesa, Palawan was one of the stops of the mission.

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